Two Seniors Awarded Prestigious Watson Fellowships
April 1, 2008

Tacoma, Wash. - Emilie DeWulf '08 and Rachel Gross '08 are among a select group of 50 college seniors from 23 states and five countries who have been awarded postgraduate study-travel grants from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation.

DeWulf, an English major, will travel to Argentina, Iceland, Mongolia, Morocco, and Namibia to observe the practice of horsemanship. With a critical perspective on the revolution in horse training, she hopes to learn how American West horsemanship techniques are influencing and potentially threatening indigenous horse-breaking practices. "By experiencing firsthand the success or failure of traditional tack and training methods in the wake of Western influence and tourism, and by learning these practices before they are lost entirely, I will establish a platform for which I can analyze the state of and help to preserve the original horse knowledge," says Emilie.

Gross, a history major, received the awarded for her proposal to study "Mountain Hut Systems and the Meaning of Wilderness." Rachel will hike hut to hut in the backcountries of Chile, Finland, India, Scotland, and Switzerland, and explore the way different groups of backcountry inhabitants and visitors define their presence and purpose in the wilderness and how they view the nature around them.

"These students exemplify the best of what Puget Sound represents in fostering potential leaders with an intellectually audacious spirit, and who have a rare opportunity to learn independent and life-changing skills in a global context," says Sharon Chambers-Gordon, director of the Office of Graduate and Undergraduate Fellowships.

Nearly 1,000 students from private liberal arts colleges and universities apply for Watson on Fellowships each year. Over the last three years, Puget Sound has received eight Watson Fellowships. Emilie and Rachel each will receive $25,000 for a year of travel and independent study. For more information, visit www.ups.edu/fellowships.xml.

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